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Search strategy: "The search method involved inspection of digital databases (Web of Knowledge, Picarta, PsychInfo) using the following keywords: pointing, gesture, declarative, imperative, precursors, language, words, vocabulary, infancy, intentional communication, and joint attention. Inspection of the reference section of relevant literature was an additional search method (ancestry method). Additionally, also unpublished sources were consulted, such as dissertations and presentations and studies under revision, by using Google Scholar, contacting researchers in the field and consulting digital databases of dissertations (e.g., PROQUEST). Three selection criteria were used to select studies: (a) measurement of infant production and/or comprehension of the pointing gesture; (b) measurement of language by assessing either receptive or expressive language; (c) report of a relation between pointing and language or the presence of data in the article allowing the calculation of a relation between pointing and language development. Exclusion criteria were: (a) subjects with mental or developmental disorders; (b) children older than 60 months; (c) studies in which the pointing gesture was not coded separately from other gestures."
Systematic: yes